Toy helicopter



J. o. BENNETT 3,119,611

Jan. 28, 1964 TOY HELICOPTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec. 15, 1955 mvrsmozz 147 QENBa A HT ATTOR Jan. 28, 1964 J. o. BENNETT TOY HELICOPTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Dec. 15, 1955 INVENTOR. (1215/ JAE/v flaw/77 BY $241 924% M Unite States Pate 3,119,611 TOY HELICOPTER Jack 0. Bennett, Luisenstr. 126, Bad Hamburg vor der Hohe, Germany, asslgnor of one-third to Albert C. Nolte, Jr., New York, N.Y.

Original application Dec. 15, 1955, Ser. No. 553,359, now Patent No. 2,942,880, dated June 28, 1960. Divided and this application Aug. 4, 1958, Ser. No. 755,838 Claims priority, application Germany June 9, 1955 6 Claims. (Cl. 272-31) This invention is a division of my application No. 553,359, new Patent No. 2,942,880, dated June 28, '1960', and relates to aeronautical toys, particularly to a toy helicopter.

The main object of my invention is to produce a powered toy helicopter in combination with control means therefor.

An ancillary object of my invention is to provide a toy helicopter with controlled electric drive in order to cause ascent or descent of the helicopter at will by controlling current supply to the drive means thereof.

Another object of the invention is to include a jointed support for retaining the helicopter captive while allowing the same to rise and lower and also fly about the support.

A further object of this invention is to have a support upon which a balancing arm is pivotally and rockably mounted with the helicopter supported upon one end of the arm and a counterbalance mounted upon the other end.

Still another object is to have such a helicopter toy which is made in two main units, one of which includes a supporting tower for universally supporting the balancing arm with the helicopter thereon, while the other unit in cludes a control device for effecting dual control of the helicopter, and with these units connected by cables.

It is more specifically an object of the invention with respect to the control unit, to have two distinct control members for regulating the current supply to the helicopter.

It is even an object of the invention .to provide the balancing arm with an intermediate support upon the supporting tower which may take various forms for allowing two degrees of motion to the arm and thus to the helicopter.

It is, of course, a definite object to have such a helicopter toy apparatus which is relatively simple to make and use and reasonable in cost in order to encourage wide distribution on the market.

An important object is to provide a helicopter toy of the double blade rotor type.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear in greater detail as the specification proceeds.

In order to facilitate ready comprehension of this invention for a proper appreciation of the salient features thereof, the invention is illustrated on the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation of a helicopter toy made according to my invention and embodying the same in a practical form;

FIGURE 2 is a circuit diagram for controlling the current to the motors of the two blade rotors of the helicopter in FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 3 and 4 are enlarged top plan and vertical sectional views, respectively, showing the details of the electrical connection at the upper end of the tower.

Throughout the views, the same reference numerals indicate the same or like parts and features.

In the toy field, airplanes and helicopters are of current interest, and while airplanes are well represented, helicopters are not so well known, principally because they have heretofore not been highly developed. The reason for this is that helicopters are themselves more recent in development than the standard airplane. In order to provide a novel toy helicopter that will simulate in control and feel, as well as operation, a modern helicopter, I now propose to support a small model helicopter upon a balancing arm having a counterbalance, and controlling the model electrically from a remote control box through conductors interconnecting the helicopter and control box, along the lines already indicated, which will now be described in detail in the following, due reference being had to the drawings.

FIGURE 1 shows the tower 1 provided with any suitable two degree mounting at 46 for rockably and rotatably supporting balancing arm 3 with its counterbalance 12 at one end and a double rotor helicopter 47 fixed at the other end thereof. This helicopter has two motors 48, 49 with blade rotors 50 and 51 driven thereby and located at the extreme ends of the aircraft. The mounting and control means may be of the type described in my aforementioned application. The control box 52 has the two control levers 53, 54 and is connected through the tower 1 by cable conductor 55 with conductors 56 and 57 extending to the motors while the interconnecting line 58 is connected by conductor 59 to a current source, preferably within box 52. The latter may also have a control stick (not shown) if desired, but the mounting 46 is provided with a depending pivot shaft 60 further shown in detail in FIGURES 3 and 4, about to be explained.

As seen in FIGURE 2, the levers or slidable contacts 53 and 54 make variable contact with resistances 61 and 62, contact lever 53 being connected by battery 63 to ground, while the resistance 62 is connected to contact lever 54. The two conductors 56 and 57 extend to motors 48 and 49 connect with the ends of resistance 62, so that shifting of lever 54 to the right will reduce resistance through line 57 and will thus speed up rotation of motor 49 and rotor 51 while increasing resistance through line 56 to motor 48, slowing the latter and its rotor 50. The result is that rotor 51 will raise end 64 of the helicopter and lower the other end 65. The amount of current supplied to the motors is primarily controlled by lever 53 along resistance 61, so that the overall rise or fall of the helicopter as a whole may be entirely controlled by contact lever 53 and the particular end of the helicopter 47 to be raised above the other is controlled secondarily by the contact lever 54 along resistance 62. The battery 63 is connected to ground and likewise the conductor 59, so that current flows through the circuit. Details of the connections at the upper end of the tower 1 are shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, in which the bearing plate 66 is mounted upon the upper edge or top of the tower and has pivot shaft 60 extending rotatably down through the same.

A hearing and contact housing 67 is secured to plate 66 by screws 68 (one shown) and has a bottom thrust bearing 69 for the lower pointed end 70 of shaft 60. Upon this shaft are mounted four resilient wiping contacts 71, 72, 73 and '74 connected to conductors 57, 58, etc. In the housing 67 are mounted a corresponding number of insulated contact rings '75, 76, 77 and 78 connected individually to conductors by snap in action of spring contact rings 79, 80, 81 and 82 forming cable 55, and thus maintaining contact between control box 52 and the conductors in helicopter 47 while allowing free rotation of the arm 3 about the axis of shaft 60 and rocking of this arm upon the pivot pin 83 in mounting 46 when one end or the other of the helicopter rises or falls. The bottom bearing 69 is insulated from housing 67 and has a conductor 84 that leads to ground. Several of the references in FIGURES 3 and 4 need not necessarily apply to the apparatus of FIGURES l and 2, but are examples of the type of mounting which may be used for this apparatus when two motors and rotors are used.

The control stick and bowden cable of my abovementioned patent may be omitted from this apparatus in actual practice and the helicopter controlled exclusively by means of the electrical control box 52 and its two contact levers 53 and 54, inasmuch as rising at one end, the helicopter thereby actually partly rotates thus rocking the balancing arm 3, and likewise when thatend falls so that the other end rises or is higher by action of the blade rotors. When more overall current is supplied to the two motors, the helicopter as a whole rises and thereby rocks arm 3 about the horizontal axis of pin 83, thus demonstrating the two degree freedom of movement available to the helicopter of the invention, whether one or two motors and rotors are used, and whatever tower mounting supports the balancing arm supporting the helicopter proper.

Although certain modifications have been shown and described in the foregoing, it is evident that further modifications and variations are possible and form part of my invention which includes all such variations within its purview and useful scope.

Naturally, various materials such as wood, plastic and light metals and alloys may be used for the construction of the parts of the helicopter and its supporting structure.

The helicopter is fitted with a hook in actual operation to permit the operator to lift light objects as a practice maneuver.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim:

1. A toy helicopter comprising a supporting tower provided on the top thereof with a pivot mounting, an elongated balancing arm having an intermediate portion thereof supported upon the pivot mounting, a helicopter proper secured on one end of the balancing arm and a counterweight secured to the other end of the balancing arm, a pair of blade rotors mounted upon the helicopter, manually operated means for remotely controlling the angular movement of the balancing arm with respect to its axis to tilt the helicopter, manually controlled means for controlling the drive of said rotors, an electric motor at each end of said helicopter, each of said blade rotors being driven by a respective motor, said manually operated means for causing angular movement of the balancing arm including a contact lever, a resistance for the contact lever connected at one end to one motor and at the other end to the other motor, a source of current connected to said lever, a conductor interconnecting the two motors, conducting means interconnecting the current source and said conductor, and said manually controlled means comprising a manually controlled variable resistance interposed between said contact lever and said current source.

2. A toy helicopter according to claim 1, wherein the contact lever has a supporting casing containing the resistance therefor, and the manually controlled resistance includes a second resistance mounted in the casing with a second contact lever making contact with said second resistance, and the casing with its resistances is connected by multiple cable with the helicopter through the pivot mounting, arm and supporting tower.

3. A toy helicopter according to claim 2, wherein the pivot mounting includes a pivot housing surmounting the supporting tower with a thrust bearing in the bottom thereof, a vertical pivot shaft rotatably mounted in the housing and resting in the thrust bearing, a bearing plate upon said housing having a bearing for the pivot shaft, a plurality of wiping contact members mounted upon the latter shaft, a corresponding number of contact rings disposed within said housing with which said contact mem- 4 bers make individual contact, conductors connected to the contact rings extending through the housing to the control casing and further conductors connected to the contact members and extending through the balancing arm to the helicopter proper and the motors therein.

4. A toy helicopter device including a tower provided upon the top thereof with a rotary mounting, an elongated balancing arm having an intermediate portion thereof supported upon the rotary mounting, a helicopter proper secured upon one end of the balancing arm and a counterweight secu-red upon the other end of the balancing arm, means for mounting said helicopter and balancing arm with respect to the tower for pivotal movement of the helicopter about the longitudinal axis of the balancing arm, two electric motors mounted in the helicopter on opposite sides of the axis of the balancing arm, a blade rotor located near each end of the helicopter and connected to the corresponding motor to be driven thereby, manually operated means connected to said tower for remotely controlling the angular movement of the helicopter about the axis of the balancing arm, said manually operated means including a source of current and variable resistance means connected in series with each electric motor, said resistance means being arranged to control the current through said motors differentially, and manually controlled means connected to the tower including variable resistance means interposed between the current source and both motors for varying the speeds of both motors similarly.

5. A toy helicopter device comprising a supporting tower, an elongated balancing arm, means for supporting said balancing arm on said tower at an intermediate portion of said arm for rotation on the tower, a helicopter proper, means for mounting said helicopter on one end of the balancing arm for pivotal movement of the helicopter about the axis of the balancing arm, a counterweight upon the other end of the balancing arm, a pair of motors mounted in the helicopter at the front and rear ends thereof and on opposite sides of the axis of the balancing arm, a blade rotor connected to each motor, manually operated means connected to the tower for differentially varying the speeds of the motors, and manually operated means connected to the tower for simultaneously increasing or decreasing the speed of both motors.

6. In a toy roundabout the combination comprising a pedestal, an arm member rotatably connected to the top of said pedestal and extending radially therefrom, a model connected to the radial end portion of said arm, said model having a pair of spaced, rotor members positioned thereabove and rotatably secured thereto, said rotor members positioned on opposite lateral sides of said arm radial end portion, means to rotate said rotors to provide a lifting force for said model and means to. regulate the lifting force of said rotors relative to each other to pivot said model about the longitudinal axis of said arm member and thereby rotate said model about said pedestal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,586,239 MacKenZie Feb. 19, 1952 2,663,371 Magill Dec. 22, 1953 2,676,014 Smith Apr. 20, 1954 2,779,595 Ensley Jan. 29, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 695,062 Great Britain Aug. 5, 1953 

6. IN A TOY ROUNDABOUT THE COMBINATION COMPRISING A PEDESTAL, AN ARM MEMBER ROTATABLY CONNECTED TO THE TOP OF SAID PEDESTAL AND EXTENDING RADIALLY THEREFROM, A MODEL CONNECTED TO THE RADIAL END PORTION OF SAID ARM, SAID MODEL HAVING A PAIR OF SPACED ROTOR MEMBERS POSITIONED THEREABOVE AND ROTATABLY SECURED THERETO, SAID ROTOR MEMBERS POSITIONED ON OPPOSITE LATERAL SIDES OF SAID ARM RADIAL END PORTION, MEANS TO ROTATE SAID ROTORS TO PROVIDE A LIFTING FORCE FOR SAID MODEL AND MEANS TO REGULATE THE LIFTING FORCE OF SAID ROTORS RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER TO PIVOT SAID MODEL ABOUT THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID ARM MEMBER AND THEREBY ROTATE SAID MODEL ABOUT SAID PEDESTAL. 